Welcome!

Next Club Meeting: May 26, 2018,at the Fountaindale Public Library from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Animatrix Network is an anime & manga fan club located in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We usually meet on the fourth Saturday of each month (except when holidays or conventions coincide). The meetings are free and open to the public. Join us for a day filled with anime.

This site provides news, reviews, commentaries, and previews of the world of anime and everything it inspires, such as live-action films, comics, music, art, and other weird things to enjoy and contemplate.

Don't miss the exciting anime series: Made in Abyss and Princess Principal!

ANIME DESCRIPTIONS ARE BELOW

10:15 - 11:05 Gamers! 11-12 (End)

GaMeR s !

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia] One day, Keita Amano, a high school boy who has no friends and spends time playing video game, is approached by the beautiful Karen Tendō about joining their school's Game Club. Smitten by Karen's offer, Keita is slightly disappointed that he wasn't the only one Karen asked to join, but ends up having fun playing FPS games with the other members. Ultimately, however, Keita decides against joining the Game Club as he prefers to play games for enjoyment instead of competition. This rejection hits pretty hard with Karen, who runs off in tears.

11:05 - 11:55 Knight's and Magic 9-10

Knight's and Magic

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia] Knight's & Magic is set in a world where medieval knights use giant robots called Silhouette Knights to fight against demon beasts, magical ravenous animals that devour everything on sight. The protagonist is Tsubasa Kurata, a mechaotaku from Japan who gets killed in a car accident. Tsubasa is reincarnated in this new parallel world as Ernesti "Eru" Echavalier, a boy born into a noble family. Tsubasa's previous otaku memories inspire Ernesti into creating his own Silhouette Knights in order to defend his kingdom.

11:55 - 12:45 Saga of Tanya the Evil eps 11-12 (End)

Saga of Tanya the Evil

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia]An atheist Japanese salaryman, in the moment of being murdered, is confronted by a self-righteous entity he refers to as "Being X" who condemns the man for not believing that "Being X" is God and sentences him to be reborn in a world that is similar to WWI Europe mixed with early aspects of World War II and magic, in an empire torn apart by countless wars with all nearby countries. The salaryman is reborn as a girl, Tanya Degurechaff. According to "Being X", if she's not able to die a natural death, or she refuses to have faith in Him, her soul will leave the circle and be sent to hell for the countless sins that Tanya has committed in her previous life. In search for an escape, Tanya decides to enter into the Empire's Mages Division and fight in the world war, hoping to reach a high enough rank as fast as possible to remain far from the battlefield and in this way avoid the risk of being killed. Even if she's now forced to speak with a young girl's lisp, Tanya soon turns into a ruthless soldier who prioritizes efficiency and her own career over anything else, even the lives of those beneath her, especially those that get on her bad side.

12:45 - 1:35 Made in Abyss 11-13 (End)

MADE in ABYSS

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia] The story is centered around an orphan girl named Riko who lives in the town of Ōsu on an island in the sea of Beoluska. The city surrounds a strange, giant hole going deep into the earth, which is commonly called the Abyss. The Abyss harbors artefeacts and remnants of a civilisation long gone, and is therefore the popular hunting spot for so-called Cave Raiders, who undertake arduous and dangerous descends into the mist-filled pit to recover whatever relics they can find. However, the deeper one goes into the Abyss, the more he is afflicted by a progressively fatal malady called the Curse of the Abyss; few who have descended into the lower regions have returned to tell of their experiences. Riko's goal is to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a master Cave Raider (a White Whistle) and solve the mysteries of the Abyss. One day she explores the caves and discovers a robot who resembles a human boy.

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia]Luna Nova hosts a welcoming party for the Earl of Hanbridge and his son, Andrew, who is an old acquaintance of Diana's. Meanwhile, as Akko is stuck having to practice her metamorphosis magic after giving herself animal ears, she decides to go and search for the Fountain of Polaris, which she believes can grant her great power. During her search, Akko comes across Andrew, who expresses a strong disinterest in magic, and she inadvertently gives him animal ears and a tail. Arriving at the location of the fountain, Akko and Andrew are chased by and (with the unseen aid of Ursula) evade its guardian, a giant polar bear named Arcas. Upon approaching the fountain, Akko is shown a vision of a young Chariot, who was unable to receive the fountain's power until she proved herself to be a capable witch through her own effort. Helping Akko to realize that acknowledgement is something that must be earned, Ursula encourages Akko to become stronger and restores Andrew, who promises to keep their encounter a secret.

2:40 - 4:35 Napping Princess: The Story of the Unknown Me (Movie)

Napping Princess: The Story of the Unknown Me(Ancien and the Magic Tablet)

Plot Summary: [Source: Wikipedia]The plot of Napping Princess takes place in two concurrent settings: a near-future Japan and Heartland, a fantastical realm. The main character, Kokone Morikawa, has strange dreams of Heartland while taking naps. In these dreams, Heartland is a society entirely revolving around cars; the King's castle is a car factory, and his subjects all come to it to make a constant stream of new cars. His daughter, Ancien (who appears as a younger Kokone), has a "magic tablet" computer she uses to give life to various machines: notably, a blue toy bear named Joy, and a motorcycle named Heart. The king disapproves of this, however, and orders Ancien confined to her tower. Additionally, the society of Heartland is under threat from a gigantic monster of molten metal called the Colossus. The king builds giant robots to face the Colossus. Ancien, spying a motorcycle-driving subject of the king's named Peach, decides to ally with him and seek to defeat the Colossus together with him, while the king's chief adviser Bewan plots against the king and Ancien alike.

In normal Japan, Kokone is finishing up her school term, considering where to go to college, and reconnecting with old friend Morio who has returned from Tokyo from his first year in college. Kokone lives with her single father Momotarō; her mother perished in an accident while Kokone was still young, and Kokone complains that her father never told her much about her mother. Momotarō is an eccentric car mechanic and has a jacket similar to Peach's, a blue bear doll, a motorcycle, and a cracked tablet, all similar to the ones seen in Kokone's dreams. The situation takes a turn for the worse when Momotarō is unceremoniously arrested three days prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and accused of stealing the car company Shijima Motors' secrets. A suited figure who looks identical to the Heartland king's evil adviser visits the Morikawa home, and is overheard to be searching for both the tablet and Kokone. Via text message from jail, Momotarō warns his daughter not to trust the adviser, who is named Watanabe. The message includes a picture of a younger Momotarō, his wife, and Watanabe. With Morio's help, Kokone evades Watanabe and his men and recovers the stolen tablet and bear doll, driving away in the family's motorcycle. They also discover a business card for Isshin Shijima, the chairman of Shijima Motors, and consider visiting him for help after Kokone is told that her mother, Ikumi, was the daughter of the Chairman. The two take a nap in the motorcycle, visit Heartland where they dream of the motorcycle soaring through the sky, and are surprised to find on waking up that the motorcycle has driven itself to Osaka overnight before running out of gas. Kokone's attempts to contact her father via the tablet seemingly fail, but surprisingly enough, the "magic" seems to work in the real world when a request to the tablet's e-Heart chat for train tickets results in an attendant giving them paid-for Shinkansen tickets to Tokyo. There, Kokone seeks an audience with the Chairman, while Morio learns that mechanics from Shijima Motors were the ones who saw Kokone's message and had bought the tickets for the pair. The mechanics explain that after the chairman's daughter had a falling out with her father and eloped with Momotarō, they used this chat to keep in contact with Momotarō, who had been continuing his wife's self-driving car programming and research. Ikumi had run a project researching self-driving car technology years ago, but Ikumi's father, as chairman, refused her proposal at the time.

Kokone has a final dream of Ancien and Peach's adventures, but unlike earlier dreams, Kokone appears as a separate bystander rather than as Ancien. Ancien seeks to empower one of the giant robots with her magic tablet over the objections of the captain. While the empowered robot engages with the Colossus, the captain turns off the engines. Ancien frantically attempts to reignite the engines, but falls off the robot. Peach keeps her in his grip, but she loses her grasp. Appearing now as Ikumi (rather than a young Kokone), she swears to help out Peach one last time, then falls to her death and cracks the tablet's glass. Kokone understands that the bedtime stories she was told as a young girl of "Ancien and the Magic Tablet" by her father that she has been dreaming of were actually stories of her mother. Now, Shijima Motors has changed course and wants to use the once ignored technology to impress the world during the Olympics with self-driving cars, hence Watanabe's frantic hunt for the tablet. Kokone, prominently carrying Ikumi's old bear doll Joy, finds Chairman Shijima, who talks of his regrets. The action shifts to Heartland, where Bewan / Watanabe detains Kokone. He describes his plan to overthrow the King via letting the King's giant robots fail, and then to prominently save the kingdom with his own giant robot. The King orders Watanabe arrested, while Peach enters the remaining robot to do battle with the Colossus, which Kokone empowers with the tablet. Watanabe manages to emit a "curse" from his cell phone to sabotage the robot, and the kingdom is briefly engulfed in flames. Regardless, Peach and Kokone are able to prevail over the Colossus, albeit via flying into space and crashing back to Heartland. In the real world, Kokone and her father Momotarō are now stuck in the rafters of the building while Watanabe is carried off, and Momotarō is holding onto Kokone just as Peach once had for Ancien. The people beneath, and the self-driving motorcycle Heart, in seeming fulfillment of Ikumi's claim to be there for the family one more time when it is most needed, are able to drag a giant balloon into place; as the family falls, they hit every banner to slow their descent, and survive the fall thanks to the balloon. A safe Kokone, seeing the company's motto on the banners explains that her name must have been based on the company's motto, a combination of "heart" (kokoro) and "wing" (hane).

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Recommended Anime

MADE in ABYSS

The Best Anime of 2017

Made in Abyss is centered around an orphan girl named Riko who lives in the town of Orth on an island in the sea of Beoluska. The city surrounds a strange, giant hole going deep into the earth, which is commonly called the Abyss. The Abyss harbors artifacts and remnants of a civilization long gone, and is therefore the popular hunting spot for so-called Cave Raiders, who undertake arduous and dangerous descents into the mist-filled pit to recover whatever relics they can find. However, the deeper one goes into the Abyss, the more they are afflicted by a progressively fatal malady called the Curse of the Abyss once they ascend back; few who have descended into the lower regions have returned to tell of their experiences. Some legendary Cave Raiders earn the title of White Whistle, one of them being Riko's mother Lyza.

Riko's goal is to follow in her mother's footsteps and solve the mysteries of the Abyss. One day she explores the caves and discovers a robot named Reg who resembles a human boy that she and her friends befriend. Some time later, Riko is informed that some items sent by Lyza were recovered, including a message to her, telling her to meet in the bottom of the Abyss. Riko then bids farewell to her friends and departs to the Abyss with Reg in search for her mother, despite knowing of the risks and the fact that due to the Curse of the Abyss, she will never be able to return.

Characters Riko is a trouble-prone 12-year-old girl who wants to emulate her late mother, a legendary Cave Raider named Lyza the Annihilator who disappeared in the Abyss ten years ago. Riko is currently a Cave Raider-in-training at the Belchero Orphanage, and as a rookie bears the rank of Red Whistle. She has secretly taken possession of one of her finds, the Star Compass, which she hopes to use in her exploration of the Abyss. Her poor eyesight stems from the Curse of the Abyss, which she caught when her mother gave birth to her during a mission in the Abyss.

Reg is an amnesic robot in the shape of a human boy. Having no memory of his own name, he was given the name Reg after a dog Riko used to own. Surprisingly, he can consume organic food despite being classified as a machine. His mechanical arms extensible, and can also fire a deadly energy beam capable of melting even stone, which Riko dubs the "Incinerator".

Flashback Corner - Remember This?

THE DIRTY PAIR is a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions. The franchise has bounced across multiple formats and production companies, resulting in (so far) eight novels and a few shorter stories, a television series, two OVA series, two OVA features, a feature film, a number of graphic novels, and two short Japanese radio series. The 1985 television series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for that year.

The stories take place in the years 2138-43, by which time humanity has spread across some few thousand star systems. A corporation called the World Welfare Works Association (WWWA or 3WA) helps member systems of the United Galactica (UG) federation deal with various planetary-scale problems, for profit, by sending agents called "trouble consultants". The series focuses on a team of trouble consultants in that section, named Kei and Yuri, who have a reputation for leaving a trail of destruction behind them, for which they are known publicly as the "Dirty Pair".

Kei and Yuri are the two members of Trouble Consultant team 234, code named "Lovely Angels". Almost every mission they are involved with ends up in disaster, but not failure (they'll catch the crook, but a city may be destroyed in the process), and thus they are more generally known as the "Dirty Pair", a nickname they hate. They are always cleared of any wrongdoing by the 3WA's Central Computer because the extreme collateral damage is never actually their fault (though their mere presence has been known to make things worse). In some but not all continuities, they have joint ESP powers, usually limited to precognition. This talent was the reason they were recruited in the first place.

Kei is a hot-headed tomboy with red hair and tanned skin who wears a silver-white uniform. She favors large weaponry and prefers to "shoot first, ask questions later". The more aggressive of the two, she is also the bustier of the pair and is attracted to manly, muscular men. Yuri is of Japanese ethnicity, and wears a golden-yellow uniform. She often uses non-gun weaponry such as energy whips or throwing cards. While the more feminine of the two, she is known to become very violent when crossed. She is the more bottom-heavy of the team and is also a coy flirt who prefers cultured, refined men. Her most recognized weapon is the Bloody Card, a technologically enhanced throwing card that can be used to take down several people at once.

Gaming Corner

NIER: AUTOMATA is an action role-playing game in which players take the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item allows the player to summon a wild animal to ride, and in some scenarios pilot a flying mech to fight enemies. As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments, the camera shifts from its standard third-person view to an overhead or side-scrolling perspective. Some areas also include platforming elements, requiring the player to navigate via jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters found throughout the world. Shops available in hub locations allow the player to purchase items, including consumables which recover health.

Combat is action-based, with the player fighting enemies in real-time in a variety of in-game environments. During battle, the player can use light attacks—which are fast but weak—and heavy attacks—slow and more powerful. The player can evade enemy attacks, and with successfully timed button presses, can gain temporary invulnerability and launch a counterattack which deals heavy damage. The player is also assisted by a Pod, a flying robot assistant which launches customizable ranged attacks varying from simple gunfire to heavy-hitting hammer attacks. Players can access four different weapon types in battle: short swords, long swords, bracers, and spears. While attacking, the player can alternate between both weapon types and attacks to create combination attacks. Attacks with different weapon types can also be charged and launched for increased damage. Weapon Stories, a recurring element in both Nier and the Drakengard series, where weapons found throughout the world have unique stories attached to them, are also featured.

As the players progress, they gain experience levels, increasing their health, defense, and attack power. Character progression is handled through chips, items installed onto the player characters that modify their attributes; these chips provide benefits ranging from altering the HUD, to granting status buffs. The number of chips that can be installed at once are limited by how many slots are available. Chips can either be purchased from shops, or picked up from defeated enemies. If the player dies, they will respawn at their previous save point. The player can then find their original body, and either retrieve items and experience left with it to gain a bonus, or attempt to repair it. Depending on the player's success, the body is either resurrected as a temporary ally, or as an enemy the player can defeat for an extra bonus. With online features enabled, the bodies of other players can also be retrieved or resurrected at the location in which they died.

Anime News Network

What is the plural of "anime"?

Animeis a Japanese word, and since they don't use pluralities in Japanese, "anime" is both singular and plural. Just like the plural of "samurai" is not "samurais." The same goes with the plural of "manga," which is "manga."

Moho Pro 12 (formerly Anime Studio)

Make your own anime!

Clip Studio Paint (formerly Manga Studio)

Create your own manga!

About the Club

The Animatrix Network is a fan club, by fans, for fans of Japanese animation. We helped shape the anime and manga fan community in and around the Chicagoland area since our founding in 1995. Our monthly programming schedule has a wide variety of anime titles ranging from science fiction, comedy, fantasy, horror, romance, and adventure. Join us each month to escape the ordinary world and dive into new realms of imagination!

Membership is FREE

Simply register your name and email address to receive the latest info on club activities, meeting dates, and viewing schedules. At the meetings, we encourage all members to network with one another. It is a great place to discuss your favorite shows with other fans, make friends, and even sell or trade anime or manga.

Be a part of our Animatrix Network and you can open new doors into the fantastic world of the anime fan community.

Contact

For questions about the club, or if you would like to register as a member in order to receive news and special announcements, contact us at anim8trix@sbcglobal.net.

Animatrix Theater Presents "Technotise: Edit i ja" Belgrade 2074. Edit is a student. After a few failed exams...

Musical Moment from 'Sing'

Toon Song Favorite: Jazzman

"Let it Go" from Disney's FROZEN

Welcome [Old Version]

Mighty Orbots - Remember this?

MIGHTY ORBOTS

In the future, Earth is threatened by various enemies, but none worse than the organization called Shadow, lead by the cybernetic menace known as Umbra. Against this, the Galactic Patrol strives to protect Earth, but the mild mannered young scientist, Robert Simmons, does more. In times of peril, he secretly fights as the leader of the Orbots, a team of unique artificially intelligent robots each equipped with their own unique capabilities that are invaluable in this war. Together, whether individually or united as parts of a giant combined robot, they represent Earth's most powerful defense.